Three-dimensional decorative item

ABSTRACT

A three-dimensional item that is foldable to a flat condition to facilitate mailing, storing and shipping thereof and is adapted to be opened to its three-dimensional condition in which the housing or container of the item constitutes a frame for elements which are comprised of one or more decoration-bearing transparent panels that are retained in parallelism to and between the front and rear faces of said housing. When arranged in open viewing condition, said item is retained in said condition by end flaps extending between the front and rear sides of the item and is supported in said condition by a support bent rearwardly from the rear face.

iJnited States Patent [191 Flax [ Aug. 20, 1974 THREE-DIMENSIONALDECORATIVE ITEM [76] Inventor: William E. Flax, 1633 W. 11th St.,

Los Angeles, Calif. 90015 [22] Filed: Aug. 21, 1972 [21] Appl. No.:282,126

[52] US. Cl. 40/l24.l, 40/160 [51] Int. Cl. G09f l/00 [58] Field ofSearch 40/126 A, 124.1, 155, 160

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,565,553 8/1951 Foley40/124.1 X 2,742,723 4/1956 Klein et a1. 40/126 A 2,984,920 5/1961Acosta et a1 40/124.1

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLlCATlONS France 40/155 Primary ExaminerWm. l-l.Grieb Assistant Examiner-Wenceslao J. Contreras [57] ABSTRACT Athree-dimensional item that is foldable to a flat condition tofacilitate mailing, storing and shipping thereof and is adapted to beopened to its threedimensional condition in which the housing orcontainer of the item constitutes a frame for elements which arecomprised of one or more decorationbearing transparent panels that areretained in parallelism to and between the front and rear faces of saidhousing. When arranged in open viewing condition, said item is retainedin said condition by end flaps extending between the front and rearsides of the item and is supported in said condition by a support bentrearwardly from the rear face.

5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures THREE-DIMENSIONAL DECORATIVE ITEM BACKGROUNDOF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention In the field of greetingcards and gift items to provide an,attractive item that presents viewsin depth and is more likely to be retained by the recipient than to bediscarded.

2. Description of the Prior Art Within the knowledge of the applicant,threedimensional items of the instant character are unknown. In thefield of greeting and gift cards and especially those branches thereofthat cater to children, flat-folded pop-up decorative as well ascartoon-like items are known. Common among the latter are singlefoldeddevices that cause transversely creased elements to assume perpendicularpositions when such devices are opened.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The provision of three-dimensional items thatare flat-folded when sent through the mails, and when shipped andstored, and, in a facile manner, are opened to comprise a frame having adecorative inner face on its rear wall seen through the frame opening,as well as one or more transparent panels interposed, in front of saidrear face, spaced therefrom and from each other, said panel or panelshaving decorative elements applied thereupon, the same combining withsaid decorative inner face of the rear wall of the frame to create anillustion of depth to the scene thus created.

An object of the present invention is to provide an item of thecharacter above referred to that is adapted to be assembled of paper,paperboard, transparent sheet plastic material of the nature ofcellophane convertible to a flat condition for mailing, shipping,storing and is readily converted from its flat condition to an opened,decorative item of the type hereinabove discussed to present the framed,three-dimensional item, as contamplated.

This invention also has for its objects to provide such means that arepositive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in workingposition, economical of manufacture, relatively simple, and of generalsuperiority and serviceability.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novelcombinations and arrangement of parts, which will more fully appear inthe course of the following description, which is based on theaccompanying drawings. However, said drawings merely show, and thefollowing specification merely describes a pre ferred embodiment of thepresent invention, which is given by way of illustration or exampleonly.

In the drawings like reference characters designate similar parts in theseveral views.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS item being slightly opened for clearerillustration of the parts.

FIG. 5 is a similar cross-sectional view, partly broken, with the itemfully opened in viewing condition and in position upon a flat supportfor viewing thereof.

FIG. 6 is a further enlarged fragmentary view of a detail ofconstruction.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In this specification and in theclaims the terms decorations and decorative are intended to includeindicia, signs and other markings that may be used alone or inconnection with decorations.

The present item comprises, generally, an outer housing enclosure 10,preferably formed of cardboard, pasteboard, or other like material that,while flexible, is form-retaining, said enclosure being shown as ofparallelepiped form, which is preferred, but may vary in shape, asdesired; panel mounting means 11 comprising members of similar materialand disposed in opposed relation in opposite portions of said housing;and at least one transparent panel 12 but, preferably a second suchpanel 13, extending between and connected to said means 111.

Said housing 10 is formed to have a front wall 15, a rear wall 16 of thesame size and shape, upper and lower portions 17 and 18 connecting therespective upper and lower portions of the front and rear of thehousing, the enclosure thereby having a tubular form, as shown in FIG.5. It will be noted that said front has an enlarged opening 19 thereinso that the same forms a frame around said opening. As shown in FIGS. 1and 3, the front wall 15, along the edges thereof extending between theportions 17 and 18, is provided with end flaps 20 of a front to rearwidth similar to that of the portions 17 and 18, said flaps having tabs21 extending therefrom, as shown in FIG. 3.

It will be clear that when the portions 17 and 18, from their flattlyarranged positions, as in FIGS. 3 and 4, are bent rearwardly along thefold lines 22 and 23, the front wall 15 and the rear wall 16 will bespaced apart, as in FIGS. 1 and 5, and when the flaps 20 are bentrearwardly on the fold lines 24 and the tabs 21 are bent on the foldlines 25 and tucked in front of the rear wall 16, the enclosure housing10, will have a parallelepiped form that encloses a hollow space 26.

It will be seen from FIGS. 1 and 3 that the ends of portions 117 and 18are provided with tabs 27 that are folded in at the corners of theabove-described housing to cover said corners.

The means 11 comprises upper and lower members 28 and 29 that are formedas tubular members having a width to fit in the front to back depth ofthe space 26. The face 30 of each of said members defines the upper andlower limits of space 26. Each of said faces is provided with a set ofslits 31 nearer the front wall 15 of the enclosure 10 and, optionally,with a similar set of slits 32 that is located between the set of slits31 and the rear wall 16 of the enclosure.

With the members 28 and 29 securely glued in place to the inner faces ofthe enclosure portions 17 and 18, the slits 31 and 32 in both members 28and 29 are vertically aligned, as shown in FIG. 5.

When two transparent panels 12 and 13 are used they are of the samerectangular size, i.e., of the length and height of the space 26. Theymay differ, however, in the location of hooking tabs 33 and 34, theformer being provided on the lower edge of each panel 12 and 13 and thelatter on the upper edge of each said panel. Said tabs are so spacedalong said edges as to agree with the locations and spacing of therespective slits 31 and 32 so they may be fitted in said slits, as shownin FIG. 6 to thereby retain said panels in parallelism.

It will be seen from FIG. 1 that the inner side of the rear wall 16 ofthe housing is provided with decorative or scenic markings 35 and thatthe respective panels 12 and 13 are marked, painted or otherwiseprovided with related material 36 and 37 that, together with themarkings 35, produce a three-dimensional scenic effect as contemplatedherein.

The part 38 constitutes a support that when bent away from the rear 16,from which it is bent, retains the item in the viewable position of FIG.1.

While the foregoing has illustrated and described what is nowcontemplated to be the best mode of carrying out the invention, theconstruction is, of course, subject to modification without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having described the invention, what is claimed and desired to besecured by Letters Patent is:

l. A three-dimensional decorative item comprising:

an outer housing having parallel front and rear walls, the front wallhaving an enlarged opening therein,

said housing having parallel edge portions foldably connecting saidfront and rear walls whereby the housing is adapted to be converted froman open condition with the front and rear walls spaced apart to aflattened condition with said walls closer to each other, and from thelatter condition to the former, said front and rear walls retainingtheir parallelism when in open condition, in flattened condition, and inall conditions between open and flattened conditions, at least onetransparent panel disposed between and in parallelism with Said frontand rear housing walls, said transparent panel bearing decorativemarkings and the like that are visible through the mentioned enlargedopening in the front wall of the enclosure,

means carried by the housing for mounting said transparent panel, saidmeans having engagement with opposite edges of said transparent panel toretain the latter parallel to the housing walls when said walls are inall spaced relations when the housing is in open condition and when thehousing is in flattened condition, and decorative material on the innersurface of the rear wall of the housing and which is visible throughsaid transparent panel and combines with the decorative markings on thelatter to produce a threedimensional scene viewable through said openingin the front wall of the housing. 2. A three-dimensional decorative itemaccording to claim 1 in which a second transparent panel, parallel withthe first transparent panel and having decorative markings, is disposedbetween the first transparent panel and one of the walls of the housing,the decorative markings on the two transparent panels combining with thedecorative material on the rear wall to produce a scenic effect visiblethrough the opening in the front wall of the housing.

3. A three-dimensional decorative item according to claim 1 in which,the mentioned opposite edges of the transparent panel are provided withprojecting portions, and

the transparent panel-mounting means means that are carried by thehousing are formed to have slits in which the above-mentioned projectingportions of the panel are engaged to retain the transparent panel inparallelism with the front and rear faces of the housing.

4. A three-dimensional decorative item according to claim 1 in which,the ends of the housing, normal to the mentioned edge portions of oneface of the housing are provided with flaps that engage the other faceof the housing to retain the latter in the mentioned open condition.

5. A three-dimensional decorative item according to claim 4 in which aportion of the rearward side of the rear face of the housing isrearwardly bendable to form a support for the item to hold the same sothe decorative portions thereof are in viewable position.

1. A three-dimensional decorative item comprising: an outer housinghaving parallel front and rear walls, the front wall having an enlargedopening therein, said housing having parallel edge portions foldablyconnecting said front and rear walls whereby the housing is adapted tobe converted from an open condition with the front and rear walls spacedapart to a flattened condition with said walls closer to each other, andfrom the latter condition to the former, said front and rear wallsretaining their parallelism when in open condition, in flattenedcondition, and in all conditions between open and flattened conditions,at least one transparent panel disposed between and in parallelism withsaid front and rear housing walls, said transparent panel bearingdecorative markings and the like that are visible through the mentionedenlarged opening in the front wall of the enclosure, means carried bythe housing for mounting said transparent panel, said means havingengagement with opposite edges of said transparent panel to retain thelatter parallel to the housing walls when said walls are in all spacedrelations when the housing is in open condition and when the housing isin flattened condition, and decorative material on the inner surface ofthe rear wall of the housing and which is visible through saidtransparent panel and combines with the decorative markings on thelatter to produce a three-dimensional scene viewable through saidopening in the front wall of the housing.
 2. A three-dimensionaldecorative item according to claim 1 in which a second transparentpanel, parallel with the first transparent panel and having decorativemarkings, is disposed between the first transparent panel and one of thewalls of the housing, the decorative markings on the two transparentpanels combining with the decorative material on the rear wall toproduce a scenic effect visible through the opening in the front wall ofthe housing.
 3. A three-dimensional decorative item according to claim 1in which, the mentioned opposite edges of the transparent panel areprovided with projecting portions, and the transparent panel-mountingmeans means that are carried by the housing are formed to have slits inwhich the above-mentioned projecting portions of the panel are engagedto retain the transparent panel in parallelism with the front and rearfaces of the housing.
 4. A three-dimensional decorative item accordingto claim 1 in which, the ends of the housing, normal to the mentionededge portions of one face of the housing are provided with flaps thatengage the other face of the housing to retain the latter in thementioned open condition.
 5. A three-dimensional decorative itemaccording to claim 4 in which a portion of the rearward side of the rearface of the housing is rearwardly bendable to form a support for theitem to hold the same so the decorative portions thereof are in viewableposition.